The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN

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1 Vol.III Issue III 1 September 2012

2 Indian Writing in English: A Cultural Alienation Vijay Kumar (Senior Lecturer) DIT School of Engineering, Greater Noida & Jyoti Jayal (Research Scholar) The English and Foreign Languages University Lucknow Campus Indian writings have absorbed at least three major currents: the mid European Aryan, the Muslim and the British, three cycles during each of which a strong and creative influence provided the primary motive force. Sanskrit came due to Aryan conquest, Muslim invasion introduced Urdu and British imperialism floated English. Obviously, the birth of Indo Anglian literature is not unusual while its sovereign identity is most often assailed by misgivings. The making of the Indian writers writing in English owes its legacy to two diametrically opposite culture literally termed as the East and the West and the bulk of writings bear a conspicuous stamp of the distractions (implicit or explicit) in theme, style, character and approach. The culture of the East thrives on its constituent unit Amrito Putra whereas that of the West on sinner (Paradise Lost-II). Alienation is a transplanted concept to the Indian soil that is gained currency in the post - war Europe bearing upon the vicinity-its people and works though its root lies deep in the Christian doctrine of Original sin and redemption, and in the Old Testament concept of idolatry (that in turn, influenced Hegel, Feurebach, Marx and others). Cultural alienation of Indian writers writing in English can be tracked down right from its launching. The initiator of Indian writings in English such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Derozio, Dattas and others were somehow or other culturally alienated under the influence of the West. They preferred to reject in the name of orthodoxy and further reformation. This resulted in the mushroom growth of various religions such as Brahma Samaj, Arya Samaj, Ram Krishna Mission, etc. intending the sense insecurity and progression with a novel magnitude- Brahma Samaj as a reformed and partly westernized version of Hindu monism, a marriage of India with the west, to build a bridge between Hindu spirituality and Christian thought, Arya Samaj wanted a return to Hinduism in its pristine Vedic simplicity, clarity and spirituality; Prarthana Samaj (1867) for religious reform or regeneration; Paramhamsa Sabha (1849) to continue the tradition of the prophets and saints emphasizing as the pure worship of God, and Ram Krishna Mission a spiritual and humanitarian movement. But none of these movements was really effective or final answer to the challenge from the west of English education and its sense of power. Precisely, Indian Renaissance is the direct consequence of inclination and curiosity towards the west. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the inaugurator of the modern age in India, the father of Indian Literature in English, and the morning star of the Indian Renaissance was attracted to the west; he, too, had been repelled by the Hindu practices and beliefs. He wanted English and more English in India, he also wanted more Englishman in India and said the settlement in India by Europeans should at least be undertaken Acting the part, now of Erasmus, now of a Luther, he assaulted orthodox tradition, condemned Sati as an unconscious ally of the imperialists spiritually with the best European and Christian teaching. While being attracted Vol.III Issue III 2 September 2012 by Christianity, later on, Ram Mohan realized with sorrow that the bigoted Christian was as

3 conceited as bigoted Hindu. Henry Derozio, the first Indian poet of Indian writing in English, an aggressive Christian and a romantic revolutionary proved an avowed enemy of what he considered to be Hindu mummery and superstition. He wanted radical transformation of Indian society through an almost fanatical devotion to values of the Christian west. Yet he could dispense with the use of Indian Myth and legend, imagism and diction and in The Fakeer of Jungheera could provide no solution to the problem of women onslaught. Dattas, initially spiritual exiles became real exiles when settled in Europe and embraced Christianity, could not escape the tensions that follow a change in faith. Toru Datta was moulded by literatures of France and England but finally rediscovered in her art the halfrejected tradition of Hinduism. There is a passionate response to her Indian heritage in her poetry. Another poet Manmohan Ghosh spent his formative years in England and his experience alienated him from his native Bengal. He always felt acutely his isolation and alienation from Indian people: Green things are indeed wonderful here But brown things, are absolutely out of sympathy with me Denationalised, that is their word for me (Songs of Love and Death, p. 18) Not only alienation from Indians but separation from English Literary Society when he had been much at home was not good for Ghosh as a poet. Never an interpreter of India to the west in Torulata Datta s way Ghosh could find no inspiration in Indian culture. Binyjon in his Introduction to Ghosh s complete Songs of Love and Death (Oxford, 1926) remarked: His verse follows the forms and tradition of English poetry, but his temperament was Eastern mentally he was torn in two. He recalls India sadly in freezing cold England: Lost is the country, and all but forgotten Mid of these chill breezes, yet still, oh, believe me All her meridian suns and ardent summers Burn in my Bosom Though, by and large, the poems are inspired by Western Literature (Greek & English), the Indian landscape appears frequently. All through his life, he kept on haunting between England and India, that is, the East and the West in search of identity. Sri Aurbindo, Tagore, Nehru, Gandhi, Anand, Narayan and Rao do not come under the purview of this study as they are deeply rooted to the Indian soil. In the post-independence era we have abundance of instances of cultural alienation. The Vol.III Issue III 3 September 2012 central theme of Eziekel s work is that of alienation and the substantial reason for this alienation

4 is that he spent most of his life in highly Westernized circles in cosmopolitan Bombay. He started in poetry as a rebel with a total disbelief in the Indian tradition and the actual of The Indian Landscape remain scant, generalized and repetitive. Barbaric city sick with slums Its hawker s beggars iron-lunged. It recurs in In India, Entertainment, Island and On Belassis road. In Enterprise he is remorseful of his venture and says, The trip had darkened every face Our deeds were neither great nor rare Home is where we have to gather force. R. Parthasarthy declares, England would be my future home. And the English language will help me understanding of myself and India. He admits: English form a part of my intellectual, rational makeup, Tamil of my emotional, psychic makeup. Bhabani Bhattacharya s Music for Mohini is an attempt to connect two cultures the old Eastern view of life with the new semi-western outlook and is cited as East-West encounter. This conflict is distinct in A Dream in Hawaii also- no better ground of East and West. In Asif Currimboy s The Tourist Mecca we have East-West encounter as its chief theme. Now the immediate question comes in our mind that, if the Indian writers writing in English have lost their way in East-West encounter, what about their own identity. Does he belong to nowhere? As Salman Rushdie said, our identity is at once plural and partial. Sometimes we feel that we straddle, two cultures, at other times that we fall between two stools. Raja Rao admits in the preface of Kanthapura, English as a language of intellectual make up cannot fulfill emotional need. A close perusal of the theme of post-independence novelist helps to make the point more clear. In B. Rajan s The Dark Dancer, there is East-West confrontation in terms of protagonist s quest for identity. It is a story of South Indian youth who is torn between in love for the British friend and his Indian wife. Kamla Markandaya s The Nowhere Man presents the mental agony of an Indian in the alien land Bharti Mukherjee s Wife tells us the story of an Indian wife who is not ready to accept the traditional taboos of an Indian wife and consequently she is torn between her swing towards the West and the demand of the soil, that is, the west. Jhabvala s works carry the pathetic rootlessness of India which has become too westernized to feel at home with its own people. N Sahgal s voice is for the identity of women in the present world. Shashi Deshpande finds herself all alone and identifies herself with the crisis of times, in search of meaning and purpose of life. Anita Desai delineates in her novels the problems and plights of alienated individuals. Her Bye Bye Blackbird is as authentic study of human relationship bedeviled by cultural encounters. Arun Joshi seeks to establish in The Foreigner the plight of an alienated man. Salman Rushdie is constantly aware of the agonizing problem of identity crisis. In Shame he says roots are designed to keep us in our place (p.86). He admits to have been an immigrant from one country (India) and a newcomer in two (p.85). His Midnight s Children is to reclaim his roots, it illustrates the permanent plight of individual identity in the hostile modern world. Vol.III Issue III 4 September 2012

5 In a sense, Kamla Mankandaya s The Nowhere Man, Anita Desai s Bye Bye Blackbird, Timeru Murari s The Marriage, V. S. Naipaul s The Mimic Men, Dilip Hero s A Triangular View and Jamila and Reginald s The Immigrants all concentrates on the theme of alienation. The crisis of alienation, loneliness, rootlessness, and loss of identity is the by-product of cultural alienation; all the protagonists desperately start a quest for peace, harmony and a meaning in life to regain their identity which they essentially trace in their own soil and culture. Vol.III Issue III 5 September 2012

Religious Influence on Indian Literature

Religious Influence on Indian Literature Dr. Madhu Jindal Associate Professor of English M.P.College For Women, Mandi, Dabwali, Haryana, India Abstract: India and religion are connected with each other.